Vehicles including cars and trucks have external or “wing” mirror assemblies disposed on both sides of the vehicle to allow the driver to view areas to the side of and behind the vehicle. Most modern vehicles have means by which the position of these mirrors can be controlled remotely. Generally, the control is conducted by one or more switches located within the cabin space of the vehicle, easily accessible by the driver.
The various types of functions that may be performed by such mirror assemblies include mirror face adjustment, a telescoping function to allow the mirror face to be extended further away from the vehicle to increase the viewing range, and a power fold function which allows the mirror to be folded to the side of the vehicle to effectively narrow the width of the vehicle and to “park” the mirror.
To date, the latter two functions, ie the telescopic function and the power fold function, operate on both left and right hand mirrors simultaneously, and it is not possible to control one or other of the mirrors independently. This is a disadvantage especially for truck, MPV or four wheel drive type mirrors, where large reductions in vehicle width are achieved by operating one side only. Many four wheel drive drivers when operating vehicles on tight clearance tracks through vegetated areas will fold the passenger's mirror in board and leave the driver's side deployed, where it is easier to judge clearances to the vegetation and still maintain rear vision from that mirror. To do this, it is currently necessary for the driver to manually position the mirrors as required.
Furthermore, independent positioning of telescoped mirrors provides the driver with more flexibility as to the position to refine the driver's preferred field of view and clearance requirements.
While it is possible to add additional switches to a switching arrangement to provide the extra functionality, this adds to the costs and complexity of producing a vehicle with the enhanced functionality.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple means of controlling certain operations of mirrors independently of each other, while minimising increased cost and complexity in producing a vehicle with these enhanced features.